It didn’t keep us warm.
It grew colder, colder than I thought it would ever get. I mean, we have our regular freezes, we know which potted plants to bring inside, which ones to cover, and which ones will be fine. We are veterans on wrapping our pipes, leaving on the water to drip the night through and even building a snowman or two. However, what we ended up getting was a bit more than what we were expecting, lasting days longer than we thought, and causing more havoc than we have ever dreamed. The snow storm across the Lone Star State was a blanket of beauty, but more morbid than would think.
A snow storm in Texas became a scary thing, with power going out, surging for, only, fifteen minutes, at a time, in many, many regions, it made getting warm, impossible, so much so, people became desperate, getting creative in how they would warm up, but forgetting to adhere to safety precautions, and sadly, losing their lives in the process. Feeling cold became a regular thing, and saying, “I’m cold,” became as natural as breathing, for the ones whose power surged and their options were, extremely, limited.
The images taken of the Texas snow storm may have been beautiful, but the critters hidden inside that landscape were having an uneasy time. For the bees, the flowers froze over and stunted their bloom. For the birds, who flew south for the winter, many were too cold. They have already retreated, there was no way they could know to retreat again, and so they froze. Residents could help the bees, but with such a crisis at hand, finding food for human consumption, became a real life flash-back to the early pandemic food-shortage days. Although, Texans along the coast understand how to prepare for a disaster, since we have trained for such a crisis, many times over, in preparation for hurricane season. Even so, the snow gave it a challenging layer that Texans have never known. Instead of too hot, we were too cold. Instead of having more than enough water, many of us had none, and had to rely on family and friends to get by. For us it was a strategically placed, busted pipe that we could control, and get water from , to fill up a pot, pitchers, and buckets to share and to use. We are fortunate enough to have well water, so boiling it was not necessary, a step my mom was grateful to skip when the boys and I called up her house, needing a place to stay.
Before the three of us headed over to my parent’s house, I was at home, alone, enduring three days and nights without running water, surging electricity, and little heat to warm me. While we thought sending the boys up to the Houston area to stay with their other grandpa would be the best plan, it turns out that they were in to same boat I was in. Thank goodness for my mom and dad for letting us stay a day shy of a week, until our man came home and he was able to start assessing the damage to the pipes. Just about all of the exterior ones were damaged and the only pipes damaged for the house were the ones underneath the house, luckily our home’s best quality is the insulation within the walls. Even after we all retreated to my parent’s house, it still was not easy for me, since I had to drive 30 minutes each way, to take care of the three cats we had to leave at home (with personal heaters strategically placed throughout the house), and around ten chickens including a rooster, to feed. I did that everyday until my man was home from the oil rig to help remedy our situation so we could all go home.
With soup kitchens being utilized in drones, all across the Lone Star State, many people had the same wish, that they could go home and restart their normal life. However, for many, that wish would only be a wish for a long time, as entire homes suffered water damage, and ceilings have fallen in. All the ways houses were built in Texas were to combat the heat and the hurricanes we must endure , so a snow storm was not even a possibility until now. A Texas Blizzard used to only be referred to the ice-cream treat one could order at Dairy Queen (D.Q.). Now the entire grid has to be redesigned, people have quit and have gotten sued. A single life lost because of an engineering fail is tragic enough , but when it is several, that is a great tragedy, and coming right off a pandemic, made it even worse.
So, God Bless Texas and our think skin. God Bless Texas for our endurance. God Bless Texas for our faith, because without those things, we wouldn’t have Texans. Texans are a tough people, steal-toed-boots and cowboy boots are apart of our DNA. Don’t touch our wildflowers, because we appreciate beauty in our landscape. The snow blanketed us real nice, but we are good with our heat.